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Thursday, 27 April 2017

Barcelona great Xavi, who a close friend of Pep Guardiola, reckons
the City boss would love to take PFA Young Player of the Year Alli to
the Etihad.
But Pochettino says Xavi is motivated by hatred of him as a former
Espanyol manager, Barcelona's bitter city rivals, and insists Alli is
going nowhere.
Spurs boss Poch suggested 37-year-old Xavi talks too much now he's seeing out his playing days with Al Sadd in Qatar.
And he even hinted the former Spain star can't be trusted because he
could be deliberately trying to help Guardiola unsettle his player.
Pochettino said: "He's in a period when he loves to talk, he's in Doha. And listen he was a Barcelona player - he's my enemy!
"He tried to destroy our focus to win because he hates me because he's Barcelona - player, fan, you know.
"He is working for Manchester City, maybe? He wants to help Guardiola.
"I think because we are doing things and the club has a lot of potential, the focus is in our talented player."
Pochettino and Xavi had several run-ins in Spain, including one game
when the Barcelona legend was accused of diving to win a penalty.
Xavi went down under a challenge from Espanyol's Razl Baena at the
Nou Camp in 2009, shortly before Pochettino took over as coach.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored the resulting penalty winner, but
Pochettino has not forgotten and even discussed it with one of Xavi's
former team-mates this week.
He said: "I know him very well, I played against him a lot and when I was a manager.
"On Monday, Thierry Henry was here and we remembered the game that he cheated the referee.
"He fell down, it wasn't a penalty, but Ibrahimovic scored for
Barcelona and they won the game. Xavi fell down and said penalty and
they gave a penalty.
"After, in the video, it was very funny because no one touched him
and he was telling everyone, ‘No, no trust me - it was a penalty'. Come
on! It goes from lie to lie to lie.
"The players we want to keep, we will keep. We don't need money. If
we sell players, it's because of the players we want to sign. Everything
we do is to improve the team."
Pochettino, whose side face Crystal Palace on Wednesday evening,
admits Spurs will have to win ALL their remaining games to overhaul
Chelsea in the title race.
He said: "It is difficult. But we need to try. The next six games are
all finals. I can't know if Chelsea will drop points. But always, is
possible."